Law students and law graduates in Pakistan are reporting for JURIST on events in that country impacting its legal system. Abu Bakar Khan is a final year law student at University Law College, University of the Punjab. He files this dispatch from Lahore. Lahore hosted the 5th Asma Jahangir Conference, titled ‘People’s Mandate: Safeguarding Civil [...]
Search Results for: court-martial
Thailand activist gets second conviction and 4 more years in prison for royal defamation
Thailand activist and lawyer Arnon Nampa received his second conviction and four more years of imprisonment Wednesday for a case of royal defamation related to social media posts from 2021. Defamation of Thai royalty is a punishable offence under the Thai Criminal Code, referred to as the lese-majeste law. According to a report by Nampa’s volunteer [...]
Donald Trump and Capital Punishment: Sounding the Death Knell for American Democracy
During every execution in the United States, Death Penalty Action* holds a virtual vigil simultaneously with local death penalty abolitionists protesting outside the prisons and state capitals or governor’s mansions where the state-sponsored killing is taking place. When these gatherings are in person, those in attendance toll the same massive bell at the time the [...]
Department of Defense removes authority over major crimes from commanders to special trial units
The US Department of Defense (DOD) announced on Thursday that new Offices of Special Trial Counsel (OSTC) will have authority over the decision to prosecute a number of serious crimes committed in the branches of the military, including sexual assaults, removing certain cases from an accused service member’s chain of command. Before the OSTC reform, [...]
Sexual Assault in the US Coast Guard: A Coverup and a Call for Justice
Sexual assault in the US Armed Forces is a very real and prescient issue for all service members. In April 2023, the US Department of Defense (DoD) reported that in 2022 there had been “a roughly 1% increase in overall reports of sexual assaults” with all the service branches having seen an increase in reported [...]
Law students and law graduates in Pakistan are reporting for JURIST on events in that country impacting its legal system. Peroozi Asif Durrani is a law student following the University of London LLB external degree program at the Institute for Legal Studies (TILS). She files this from Islamabad. On Sunday, Pakistan President Dr. Arif Alvi [...]
Supreme Court of India to deliberate on constitutional validity of marital rape exception
The Supreme Court of India said on Wednesday that it will deliberate on the constitutional validity of Exception 2 to Section 375 of the Indian Penal Code. This exception currently prevents non-consensual marital sex from being considered rape, raising concerns about the rights and protection of those involved. A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, [...]
Court-Martialing Imran Khan Is in Violation of International Law
Following global practice — including that of the U.S. military justice system — the Pakistan Army Act builds on maintaining good order and discipline among service members, as no military can effectively function without strict discipline. The court-martial, that is, trial by military officers of breaches of service-connected discipline, including crimes, sits at the heart [...]
US Department of Defense to release fourth Guantanamo Bay prisoner this year
The US Department of Defense (DOD) Wednesday said it will release Gussan Abdullah Al Sharbi after 20 years in Guantanamo Bay. Al Sharbi, a citizen of Saudi Arabia, is set to be transferred the Kingdom for repatriation. Al Sharbi was captured in Pakistan in 2002 by the US military. He was accused of training al [...]
How Philippine Authorities Appear to be Scheming to Bar ICC Probe of Duterte-Era 'Death Squads'
The new government of Ferdinand Marcos Jr and Sara Duterte is employing tricks and propaganda to entrench impunity and ward off the International Criminal Court’s long-delayed probe of crimes against humanity committed during former president Rodrigo Duterte’s reign of terror. The latest of these ploys is the government’s attempt, through the Office of the Solicitor [...]